After successful surgery, mess in Macau, David Mitchell primed for UFC victory

More than two years after dropping his UFC debut, things haven’t exactly gone David Mitchell’s way.

Injuries, surgery and rehabilitation have left Mitchell (11-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) out of action for more than 15 months – a streak he had hoped to end earlier this month at UFC on FUEL TV 6 before his opponent was pulled from the card hours before weigh-ins.

Left without an opponent and some 7,000 miles from home, Mitchell admits it was a frustrating plight. Now he’s aiming for a January return, and he’s anxious to show the world what he can do when fighting at full strength.

“I’ve been training really well,” Mitchell told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I’ve just been really motivated. I’ve been watching video and working on all my weaknesses. I just want to be a better fighter than I’ve ever been before.

“I still have the UFC contract. I still have that opportunity. I think they want to see what I can do, and I think anybody that’s watched me fight in the past knows that I can bring more to the cage, and that’s the plan.”

Mitchell made his octagon debut in September 2010 at UFC Fight Night 22. He engaged in a back-and-forth grappling battle with T.J. Waldburger but eventually lost via decision. Injury then forced him out of a planned January 2011 bout with Mike Swick, so it was August of that year before he returned against Paulo Thiago.

He lost a decision there, as well.

Following the fight, Mitchell knew there was a serious problem that had to be addressed.

“I had an impinged nerve in my cervical spine,” Mitchell said. “I had surgery in April, and the surgeon said that the nerve was 80 percent blocked. Basically, I fought Paulo and actually a couple of fights before that with basically no strength on my left side and a lot of atrophy of the muscles. He said the surgery was successful, and he opened up all the way back up to 100 percent by carving a little bone away. So I’m fixed, and it’s been kind of a long rehabilitation trying to get back into shape.

“It definitely hurt my jiu-jitsu game. I didn’t have the strength to do some of the stuff I wanted to do. It really affected my strength and speed on my left side. Now I’m finally ready to go, and then in the past couple of weeks, all this happened.”

“All this,” of course, really boils down to one major Hyun Gyu Lim faux pas. The 6-foot-2 Korean was expected to face Mitchell at UFC on FUEL TV 6 in Macau, but UFC officials ultimately declared him medically unfit when his weight cut went terribly wrong.

Mitchell said during his own weight cut, he actually caught a brief glimpse of Lim passed out on the sauna floor but didn’t initially realize it was his opponent.

“I saw the guy the day before weigh-ins, and he didn’t look too good,” Mitchell said. “I actually thought it was Dong Hyun Kim because the guys around me were like, ‘Oh, it’s the guy on the poster.'”

It was only later when Mitchell received the bad news that he realized he had actually crossed paths with his intended foe.

“Unfortunately, they told me Friday morning that Mr. Lim was out for medical reasons,” Mitchell said. “Obviously I put two and two together at that point. He looked like a really big guy. I saw him at the airport when we were leaving, too, and he looked like he should be fighting at 185 pounds. But I understand people trying to gain that advantage and drop a weight class and stuff like that.

“It’s just unfortunate and kind of embarrassing. I want to fight. My friends and family were looking forward to seeing me fight and getting up early in the morning to watch, and then there was no fight.”

Mitchell was especially disappointed that it was Lim who was pulled and not Kim since “Stun Gun” was actually slated to fight Thiago. “Daudi” thought he might potentially get a chance for a much-desired rematch with the Brazilian grappler.

“I actually thought maybe I’d get to go in there and fight Paulo Thiago again,” Mitchell said. “I was actually pretty excited about that. I want that fight again.”

Mitchell said he tapered off his weight cut but kept himself at the ready in case there were any more last-minute changes.

“I kind of just kept my weight low just in case something fell through at 170 or 185,” Mitchell said. “I just tried to be there for the weigh-in and hang with all the guys and see it through, as tough as that was.”

Once the remaining 18 fighters made their bouts officials, Mitchell knew his chance to fight was officially gone. At that point, he simply became the world’s most unhappy tourist.

“On Saturday morning, me and my sister went for an open-top bus tour, so I got to see some of the sights in Macau and where they do the auto race,” Mitchell said. “We went and checked out the market and bought some gifts for some folks back home.

“It was really a bummer to watch the fights that night and think, ‘I should be fighting. I should be walking to the cage right now.’ Instead, I was sitting there watching a bunch of other guys fight. That sucks. At least it turned out to be a pretty good card.”

Fortunately, the UFC erased a little of the sting by paying Mitchell his show money. The 33-year-old then flew home after the fights and went straight back to the gym, where he remains focused on his next opportunity.

“I’m grateful to get a few bucks from the UFC. It will definitely help me with the next training camp. I’m just going to put that money toward superior nutrition and better training and just try and stay on track.”

Mitchell hopes to fight as soon as January and said there is already some initial dialogue with the UFC about potential opponents. To the welterweight submission artist, the name hardly matters. Instead, it’s more important to simply get back in the cage and prove to the world – and to himself – that he’s capable of performing like the fighter that ran off 11-straight wins to open his career and not the one that went winless in his first two UFC appearances.

“A week before I went to Rio to fight Paulo, I was in so much pain they had to put Cortisone in there just to get me through it,” Mitchell said. “I wasn’t sparring. I didn’t get a single round in that camp. I was just basically running and trying to keep my weight down.

“It was like a stinger every time I got touched. It was a very painful and discouraging injury, but now that it’s behind me, I feel like I get a second chance, you know?”

Barring any more unforeseen hurdles, Mitchell said it’s then he’ll be able to perform at 100 percent.

“I think you’re definitely going to see a better David Mitchell in my next fight,” Mitchell said. “I just want to thank my team at NorCal Fighting Alliance, David Terrell, Tom Call and everybody that’s helped me. They’ve really been there for me through thick and thin – and it’s been awfully thin sometimes. I’m very, very grateful.

“I really feel like I’m back to the old Mitchell that used to kick some ass. I’m just looking forward to the next fight and getting the ‘W.'”

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